FC Pro X Eliminate red lined camera focus box from captured clips

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FC Pro X Eliminate red lined camera focus box from captured clips

Using a Ninja 2 editor connected to my Nikon 810 I forgot to disable the HDMI live view on screen display and all of my camera's functions were captured with the Ninja 2 at a wedding I shot. I have cropped the screen to remove the bottom line of camera functions but I cannot figure out how to get rid of the red square camera focus area lines which sit in the middle of my clips.

How can I get ride of this with either FCX or Motion?

Motion 5, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Oct 13, 2015 12:38 PM

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Answer 1

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David Bogie Chq-1

Level 7

26,590 points

Oct 14, 2015 9:05 AM in response to tknees

Sorry, no. That stuff is burned into the vide. The pixels cannot be removed. You can blur them out, you can try to replicate and patch in adjacent pixels, a process similar to wire removal, but, umm, how to put this gently? The job cannot be (easily or tastefully) salvaged.

Can you think of a way to effectively stylize your edit so the client will accept the video (without suing you)? You cannot get paid for this job so try your best to give the couple something they can remember the event with even if they will never be able to recommend your services.

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Answer 2

tknees Author

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Oct 14, 2015 9:09 AM in response to David Bogie Chq-1

Thanks David,

I figured it was on there for sure. Without opening each individual image of the 30 frames per second and fixing on photoshop, how would I blur them out, or attempt replicate and patch in adjacent pixels with FCX or Motion?

The wedding was for a cousin of my wife and was for free and looks great and I was trying out my new camera and Ninja 2 and could not foresee this mishap. I am pretty PO'd and would do anything to even do a minor change to take the color red out.

Thanks again for the advice anymore would be greatly appreciated.

Richard

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Answer 3

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Oct 14, 2015 9:19 AM in response to tknees

Couple of tools you might consider. If you try them, let us know whether either worked for you.

https://www.video2brain.com/en/lessons/removing-an-object-with-clone-stamp

http://www.coremelt.com/videos/slicex-remove-objects.html

Russ

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Answer 4

tknees Author

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Oct 14, 2015 12:23 PM in response to Russ H

Thank you Rush,

I have downloaded After Effects and will attempt that approach.

I am running Final Cut Pro and not Premiere so I hope it is not an issue.

Thanks,

Richard

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Answer 5

Oct 14, 2015 2:24 PM in response to tknees

SliceX from Coremelt works right in FCPX. Looks like a good possibility.

As you can see in those links from Russ, these tools grab pixels from an area adjacent to the pixels you want to remove, clones them, and lays them on top of the image. They're great for removing wires (flying rigs and puppet armatures) or, say, birds or planes from a clear blue sky. But they can't work miracles like removing a sign from a brick wall while the camera is in motion or someone walks in front of the sign.

Difficult lesson. We've all had them.

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Answer 6

tknees Author

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Oct 14, 2015 3:15 PM in response to David Bogie Chq-1

The problem is the red lined box square sits atop the image and people are moving underneath it and so it is not a fixed object like a wall or a bus stopped. It is the camera focus area square that reads the area you wish to have in focus. With the clone stamp tool, It looks good just until somebody passes over where I had done the work and then you can see the invisible outline of where the square use to be. I have to keep doing this for every scene change...a lot of work as I have over an hour of footage with this lousy square on it.

I will keep at it as I am new to this after effects. I will go down to the 1 pixel mode and I really appreciate the input and help guys.

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Answer 7

Russ H

Level 7

22,432 points

Oct 14, 2015 7:47 PM in response to tknees

I'm not surprised that it's tedious – even with trackers. There are some problems that are just extremely difficult to fix satisfactorily.

Russ

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Answer 8

tknees Author

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Oct 24, 2015 1:14 PM in response to Russ H

I drew this diagram with a simple keyboard and so please assume that the left and right sides of the square are solid lines just like the top and bottom. Before I attempt this on my newly downloaded Slice X software with FCP I wanted to pass this question by people like yourself that has had more time with this Slice X program before I attempt to do so myself and perhaps save myself untold hours of trial and error with your smart answers.

The problem... _______________________

l l

l______________________l

is a red square that has full lines on all sides.

l

l____________________

How do I make a mask that gets rid of this camera focus area that has been burned into the frame of the entire clip?

Using Slice X, can I build a 'L' matte to cover the lines by replacing the removed pixels with nearby pixels on the ever changing scene of people and objects underneath the original red box? Or can I make a circle, square or rectangle matte

but how do I make a square matte that only covers the thin red lines and not the material(Pixels) inside of the square? Will I have to build my matte in two solid thin pieces or can I develop an entire matte to

cover all four(south, north, east and west) side walls of the square?

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Answer 9

Oct 24, 2015 4:36 PM in response to tknees

You might wish to consider just editing together a nice video memory package and say youre' sorry about screwing it up with the red thingy. No good can come of this effort; the video of their wedding will always have something weirdly wrong with it. And, honestly, no one watches a wedding movie more than once before their tenth anniversary.

You could try this: Ask for their guest list and all of the email addresses. Make a slightly dishonest appeal for all of their photos and iPhone video clips. Create a simple drag and drop upload location for them to use so it's as painless for them as possible. Assemble the best material into something interesting, sincere, and possibly funny. Intercut your video so it looks like yours is capturing everyone else haivng a good time, like a security camera. Maybe even add back the date/time data screens.

Forget your pride. Make lemonade.

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Answer 10

Oct 24, 2015 9:14 PM in response to tknees

de ja vue? Ah, no, a second post .... 😉

SliceX Object Remover is of lil' use for your issue, 'cause the square doesn't move = no movement, no tracking 😉

You can accomplish the same without SliceX and with FCPX' own weaponary:

(you've seen my example in your other post, now the red square is solid)

double your track and apply a mask around your square in the top one

hmm, the screenshot doesn't show it:

I have painted around the lines, not just a full square! ahhh, close up, better:

invert mask and ...

.. and shift the lower one a few pixels x/y

(lowered opacity of top one to illustrate what I mean ...)

That's all what SliceX does ... plus a 'dynamic mask', which is marvel to me (I own it and use it), but not needed in your case. the red thing is rock solid.

in result:

instead of a red square, you have a .... 'camouflage' square ....

no, I'm a huge fan of cormelts products, but in your case of no use ... your problem is static, mocha is for moving content.

You can make the red square less obvious, but not gone ...... 😟

can you post a screengrab/example ...?

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Answer 11

Oct 24, 2015 11:29 PM in response to tknees

@tknees.

Don't miss fox_m advice in you other thread

Re: Motion/FCX/OSX Yosemite eliminate red focus area box from captured footage

best result so far .....

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